Parallel Memory

The day of the tournament.

Thousands of spectators flocked to the Luminia stadium to watch the Tournament of Academies. The favorites to win were Ace Academy, Arcane Academy, and Demacia Academy.

The point to note was that Arcane Academy and Demacia Academy were both stripped of their titles as Top-5 schools last year. With both of their top students suffering at the hand of Zero, none of their participants advanced to the next round to compete where Top-10 participants were ranked.

However, even with such an accident, people didn't think that Arcane Academy and Demacia Academy were weak. Their participants in the tournament are included in the Top-10 list of those most likely to win.

Furthermore, their other participants have been highly rated by people and have accomplished impressive things. But the biggest reason why people watching the tournament thought that they were likely to win probably has to do with the media who were spreading the news about Arcane Academy and Demacia Academy's strengths.

They might have someone helping them since a lot of news bragging about Arcane Academy participants began to surface while at the same time, many news denounce Ace Academy.

However, such lowly tactics were not enough to change the view of many people who still believed that Ace Academy would win. People who had seen Hiro and other Ace Academy participants perform in last year's tournament would know how strong Ace Academy was.

They believe that Hiro and other second-year participants from last year's tournament will be stronger this year. They believe that Hiro, who was already incredibly strong last year, will be able to get the crown this year.

Discussions about the winner were already discussed before the entrance of the participants.

"Who do you think will win this year?"

"It should be Hiro, right? He was alright and on the verge of winning last year. With the last year's champion, Lisanna, gone he should win."

"Idiot! What do you know? This is not an individual fight. If Hiro manages to survive until the individual battle, he might win. But other students will certainly eliminate him before that. Not to mention that Landon Wright is the leader of Arcane Academy." …

Intense debates about their predictions were happening everywhere. Hiro was the favorite to win but at the same time, many felt that he would be targeted since he was hailed as the strongest. However, there were also others who analyzed that the probability would be lower since he would get targeted by other students.

Moreover, Landon Wright, while still strong, is not known for his raw power. His fame was mainly because of his intelligence. The talent to come up with various plans and use others to solve the situation quickly is his main strength.

They believe that due to his intelligence, he would already know that eliminating Hiro is the key to victory in this tournament. As for the other participants from Ace Academy, even though they were ridiculously strong, not many were discussing them since Hiro would always overshadow them.

Audiences had filled the stadium to the brim. Even though there was still time before the tournament, people were already seated at their places. Even though they were just waiting for the tournament to start, the atmosphere was already very lively.

As the clock hit 9:00, participants from various schools entered the stadium. Joining them were the applause and cheers from the audience.

"Ace Academy!"

"Arcane Academy! Arcane Academy!"

"Hiro-Sama!"

"Sylvia Chan!"

"Landon Wright! Bring the crown home!"

"Bladehaven Academy!" …

Participants walked amidst the cheers of everyone, some were nervous while others were excited. Only those who had already participated last year were nonchalant with victory as their only aim. They were not affected by the crowd's excitement.

Leading the participants was Ace Academy followed by other Top-5 Academies. Students at Arcane Academy and Demacia Academy who were in the middle of the line gritted their teeth as they glared at Ace Academy. They blamed them for making them lose their position as a Top-5 academy.

After a short time, the guests for the Tournament of Academies arrived. This time, it was S+ Rank, Kaida Darkfire, also known as The Black Flame Of Destruction. One of the most powerful in S rank. Her attack is a black flame with a very wide area of effect and contains destructive power, hence her title.

However, even though she was well known and strong, she was still pale in front of last year's guest who was a SS Rank Hero who is on the Top-10 strongest list. Most of the time, SS Rank would show up as a guest at the Tournament Of Academies.

This year, all SS-Rank Heroes were caught up in the conflict between Devils and Humans. They had no time to attend the tournament, hence the guest for this year was one of the prominent S-Rank heroes.

Despite that, the audience was not that disappointed. Even though getting to see famous heroes was interesting, the main thing about the tournament was still the competition between the students.

As long as they could get to watch intense battles, they would not be bothered by who the guest was. Moreover, the Black Flame was not a bad choice for getting selected as a guest.

"Hello!"

Kaida stood in front of the crowd and began her speech which consisted of her expectations and hopes. Then she began telling the rules of the tournament.

"This year, the first round will be 'Race across the Beast'. Every participant needs to race from Luminia Stadium to Demonwood Forest and retrieve their token. The first one hundred participants who brought the token would advance to the next round. However, there was no fighting in the city. Fighting will only be allowed in the Demonwood Forest. Those who fail to adhere to the rules will be eliminated from the tournament."

Participants from the same school were already discussing the plan. It was very rare for there to be a tournament where the main focus was not fighting. While fighting was not forbidden, the main thing was to be fast.

Flying would certainly be the best technique for this round. However, that kind of skill was impossible for students to possess. Flying is an advanced technique mainly used by Rank-S. While some A-Rank magicians could do it, it was only for a short period of time.

Flying skill requires an incredible amount of mana. Even flying for 10 minutes would need the mana stat to be B + and higher. Therefore, they were not afraid of anyone flying and getting first place.

Therefore, the ones to have an advantage in this round were those who had high stamina and speed stat. Or have some skill that could increase their movement speed.

It was extremely disadvantageous to tanks and magicians who had mainly high strength and mana stats.

"Haha… We will surely win this round!"

"Looks like luck is in our favor."

"None of the schools prioritizes stamina as much as us. It would be easy to advance to the next round."

Demacia Academy looked extremely excited and was already thinking of this round as an easy win for them. In terms of stamina, they would be number 1 as they mainly focus on that at their school. They felt that they could easily win this round with their stamina.

Landon Wright seemed to be thinking deeply, possibly conjuring up some plans.

Hiro and others were the same. They did have a high stamina stat and could also easily win the round but they didn't think the competition was as simple as Demacia Academy was making it sound.